This invention concerns a small portable vessel, and more particularly relates to a canteen-like vessel in which water may be heated by exposure to solar radiation.
Portable solar heating units for campers are well known for cooking food and heating water. They are particularly useful where the buildings of a fire for heating purposes is impractical. Such units generally rely upon reflective parabolic surfaces which collect radiation over a relatively large area, and focus the radiation directly upon the object to be heated. In such instances, use of the apparatus usually requires that the camper set up several components in stationary juxtaposition, and wait in a fixed location until the heating task is accomplished. No storage or accumulation of the solar-generated heat is usually contemplated. The reflectors are usually fragile, or if durably constructed are expensive and bulky. U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,251 to Burkhardt discloses a portable and compact heating device which disposes water in very thin layers for quick heating. In the Burkhardt device, the rate of heating is such that a period of about one hour is required to raise the water to its boiling point for each half centimeter depth of water.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a portable water confining apparatus capable of heating said confined water by solar radiation to boiling temperatures at a rate significantly faster than achievable by prior devices.
It is a further object of this invention to provide apparatus as in the foregoing object having a canteen-like configuration.
It is a still further object of this present invention to provide apparatus cable of accumulating heat of solar origin over a period of time.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide apparatus of the aforesaid nature of rugged, durable consturction which can be economically manufactured.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.